A strong partner for automated trucks

Do you really want to print the Internet?

Save paper and protect the environment by using the bookmark or e-mail forwarding function instead.

Daimler AG

Daimler Trucks acquires a majority stake of Torc Robotics, a U.S. software company specializing in automated driving. This creates a technology powerhouse for automated trucks – and is a major milestone on our way to launch highly automated trucks within a decade.

Today is a very special day for us at Daimler Trucks. It’s a day that we have been very much looking forward to. Because the investment we’re announcing today will make a real difference. It will make a difference for Daimler Trucks and for our new partner Torc Robotics. And it will also make a difference for our customers, as well as for our economies and our societies. This is a bold statement. But I’m convinced it’s no overstatement – because the power of automated driving is just amazing.

Ready for series-production

And that’s not something we’ve just recently figured out. On the contrary, we recognized early on the tremendous potential of this technology – for more safety in road freight transport, as well as for greater efficiency and sustainability. Global transport volumes are expected to more than double between 2015 and 2050 – and automated driving is an important lever to manage this increase in an economically and socially meaningful way.

That’s why we’ve been pressing ahead on automated driving for trucks for years. In 2014 we introduced our vision of an autonomous truck to the world for the first time in the form of our Mercedes-Benz Future Truck. In 2015 we gained the world’s first official approval for a street-legal partially automated truck with our Freightliner Inspiration Truck in the U.S.

Now we are ready to go into series-production with partially automated driving trucks – in other words at automated level 2 driving – in all regions around the world: in Europe with our new Mercedes-Benz Actros, in USA with our new Freightliner Cascadia, and in Japan with the heavy-duty trucks of our FUSO brand.

Level 4 trucks – a big leap in technology

We have already achieved a lot with this technology. Still, semi-automated driving is just an intermediate goal for us. At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January we already made our next goal public: Within a decade we aim to put highly automated trucks – level 4 trucks – into volume production and on the road.

That’s going to be a big leap in technology. Because in the case of semi-automated level 2 driving the responsibility still lies with the driver, whereas in highly-automated level 4 driving the system itself takes over responsibility. A single number gives you an idea of how complex this technology is: A system for semi-automated driving needs two technically highly sophisticated sensors based on radar and camera – in highly automated driving, there are a few dozen, including additional sensors based on the laser technology Lidar.

In order to gain experience as quickly as possible we will gradually introduce highly automated driving and radically simplify its use. We’ll start in the U.S. with routes between logistics hubs along major highways.

A pioneer in automated driving

That’s exactly what we’ll be working on with our new partner. We’re acquiring a majority of the shares of US-based Torc Robotics, based in Blacksburg, Virginia. Founded in 2005, Torc Robotics is one of the pioneers in automated driving and, more importantly, one of the world’s leading names in this field: Torc Robotics has now tested automated vehicles in more than 20 U.S. states on public roads, as well as in restricted areas – and with no accidents. Included in that testing was a coast-to-coast trip across the United States and along the route were some cities with busy traffic such as Las Vegas.

We’re now joining forces with Torc Robotics because we believe our strengths complement each other perfectly. Torc Robotics is a leader in automated driving – and Daimler Trucks is leading in trucks. We understand the unique needs of our industry, and we have the global footprint and global platforms required to quickly roll out new technologies across all regions.

More specifically, that means: The Torc team will work closely with Daimler Trucks development teams, particularly the Research & Development efforts of Daimler Trucks North America in Portland, Oregon. Torc will continue to develop its self-driving software and testing at its Blacksburg, Virginia facility. At the same time, Daimler Trucks will focus on further evolving automated driving technology and vehicle integration for heavy-duty trucks.

In sum, we are forming the ideal combination between Torc’s expertise on agile software development and our experience in delivering reliable and safe truck hardware. Together with Torc Robotics, we can now achieve even more in automated driving even faster – for the benefit of our customers, the economy and society. Therefore I am very pleased about this new partnership. Together we want to shape the future of transportation!

* The figures are provided in accordance with the German regulation "PKW-EnVKV" and apply to the German market only. Further information on official fuel consumption figures and the official specific CO₂ emissions of new passenger cars can be found in the EU guide "Information on the fuel consumption, CO₂ emissions and energy consumption of new cars", which is available free of charge at all sales dealerships, from DAT Deutsche Automobil Treuhand GmbH and at www.dat.de .

Use of Cookies

Daimler uses cookies to continuously improve and optimize the design of its websites. By using this website, you consent to the use of cookies.

Statement on the use of cookies, the analysis of usage data and the use of analysis tools
We use cookies and similar software tools such as HTML5 Storage or Local Shared Objects (together "cookies") to identify your interests and particularly popular areas of our websites and use this information to improve the design of our websites and make them even more user-friendly. For the same purposes we use the analysis tools Adobe Analytics and eTracker; cookies may also be used here.
1. Functions and use of cookies

a) Cookies are small files that are placed on your desktop, notebook or mobile device by a website you visit. From this we can, for example, recognize whether there has already been a connection between your device and our websites, or which language or other settings you prefer. Cookies may also contain personal data.

b) By using our websites, you agree to the use of cookies.

You can also visit our website without consenting to the use of cookies. This means that you can refuse such use and delete cookies at any time by making the appropriate settings on your device. This is done as follows:

i. Most browsers are pre-set to automatically accept cookies. You can change this setting by activating the setting *do not accept cookies* in your browser.

ii. You can delete existing cookies at any time. You can find out how this works in detail in the instructions of your browser or device manufacturer.

iv. Like the use of cookies, their rejection or deletion is also linked to the device used and also to the browser used in each case. You must therefore reject or delete the cookies separately for each of your devices and, if you use several browsers, also for each browser.

c) If you decide against the use of cookies, it is possible that not all functions of our websites are available to you or that individual functions are only available to you to a limited extent.

d) We categorize cookies as follows:

i. Essential cookies (type 1)
These cookies are absolutely necessary for the functions of the web pages. Without these cookies we would not be able to offer you services such as the vehicle configurator, for example.

ii. Functional cookies (type 2)
These cookies facilitate the operation and improve the functions of the web pages. For example, we store your language settings in functional cookies.

iii. Performance cookies (type 3)
These cookies collect information about how you use our website. This enables us to identify which parts of our Internet offer are particularly popular and thus improve our offer for you. Please also read the section "Analysis of usage data".

iv. Third-party cookies (type 4)
These cookies are set by third parties, e.g. social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and Google+, whose content you can integrate via the "social plug-ins" offered on our websites. For more information on the use and function of the social plug-ins, please refer to section 4 of our Privacy Statement.

Privacy Statement

We use the following cookies on our website:

Name

Provider

Purpose

Type

PHPSESSID

blog.daimler.com

Assigns an anonymized ID (session ID) to your browser during your visit to bundle up multiple related requests and assign them to the same session.

Typ 1

cookie_policy

blog.daimler.com

Indicates that you agree with the usage of cookies on our webpages. It is set automatically upon closure of the 'Use of cookies' information layer. If this cookie exists the information layer will not be shown again for the next 12 months.

Typ 2

s_cc, s_fid, s_sq, s_vi, AMCV_*

Adobe Analytics

Store information on how visitors use our website and help us to continuously further develop our website in line with their interests.

Typ 3

etcnt_165093

etracker.de

Used by Etracker to document user statistics.

Typ 3

_et_coid, et_id, etcnt_*

etracker.de

Cookie detection, visitor detection Etracker Analytics

Typ 3

BT_ctst

etracker.de

Used only to detect whether cookies are enabled in the visitor's browser or not

Data of the current visitor session (referrer, number of pages, number of seconds since the start of the session) that are used for personalization purposes

Typ 3

isSdEnabled

etracker.de

Determines whether the visitor's scrolling depth is measured.

Typ 3

_narando_session

narando.com

The cookie is valid only during the current browser session and will be deleted when you close the browser

Typ 4

tracking_opt_out

narando.com

This cookie stores information on whether it is permissible to send the listeners user behaviour to narando.

Typ 4

YSC, NID, PREF, VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE

youtube.com

Are set by YouTube and/or Google as soon as a video is embedded and/or played on a page. For further information on the nature, use and purpose of cookies, click on the following link: http://www.google.com/intl/de/policies/privacy/.

Typ 4

GPS

youtube.com

Registers a unique ID on mobile devices to enable tracking based on the geographic location of the GPS.

These cookies store information about whether it is allowed to analyze the user behaviour of the visitor.

Typ 4

cntcookie

etracker.de

These cookies store information about whether it is allowed to analyze the user behaviour of the visitor.

Typ 4

2. Analysis of usage data; use of analysis tools

a) We would like to tailor the content of our websites as precisely as possible to your interests and in this way improve our offer for you. In order to identify usage preferences and particularly popular areas of the websites, we use the following analysis tool(s):, Adobe Analytics, eTracker.

b) When using these analysis tools, data may be transferred to servers located in the USA and processed there. Please note the following: In the USA, the European Union considers that there is no "adequate level of protection" for the processing of personal data in accordance with EU standards. However, this level of protection can be replaced for individual companies by certification according to the so-called "EU-U.S. Privacy Shield".

c) If you do not want us to collect and analyze information about your visit to our website using the analysis tools mentioned above, you can object to this at any time with effect for the future ("opt-out").

We implement your objection by setting an opt-out cookie in your browser. This cookie is only used to associate your objection. Please note that for technical reasons, an opt-out cookie only works in the browser in which it was set. If you delete the cookies or use a different browser or device, please opt-out again.

d) Below you will find information on the providers of the analysis tools we use and the respective opt-out options:

ii. eTracker GMBH
eTracker is certified according to ePrivacyseal EU.
You can prevent the transfer of your data and its collection and processing by eTracker. eTracker informs about this via the following link:
https://www.etracker.de/privacy?et=jLs